Flashes roll in the rain at Clear Creek
Published 9:20 am Tuesday, April 12, 2016
- St. Aloysius golfer Channing Curtis, right, hits a tee shot during the St. Aloysius Boys Golf Invitational Monday at Clear Creek Golf Course. Curtis earned medalist honors in the six-team tournament. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)
When they weren’t dodging raindrops Monday, the St. Aloysius Flashes were dropping a lot of shots into the cup.
Channing Curtis made six birdies and shot a 2-under par 70 to earn medalist honors, and the Flashes racked up their third consecutive tournament victory at the St. Aloysius Boys Golf Invitational at Clear Creek Golf Course.
Curtis missed two short par putts that could have dropped his round even lower.
“It was a good round. I hit the ball pretty good,” Curtis said.
Rain delayed the tournament for nearly an hour, and then cut it short before everyone had finished their round. Because of the staggered shotgun start, not everyone played the same holes and a modified scoring system was used. Each player’s first nine holes counted toward his score, and the team scores were calculated in relation to par.
St. Al finished at 10-over par to beat Manchester Academy by nine shots. Northwest Rankin was third, at 20-over par.
Central Hinds (22-over), Warren Central (32-over) and Simpson Academy (35-over) rounded out the field.
Liam Hopson was Warren Central’s top player. He was at 4-over par through his first nine holes, and had teed off on the 18th hole when play was halted. His playing partner, Chance Bishop, was at 7-over.
Curtis was among four St. Al players who did finish their round before the tournament was halted for good around 3 p.m. Gabriel Riveros shot a 75, Wilson Palmertree a 78, and Brandon Teller an 83 to give them an unadjusted score of 306.
Through nine holes, Teller was scored at 5-over par and Palmertree at 6-over.
Riveros tied for second, once the scores were adjusted, in the individual standings. He and Northwest Rankin’s Ryan Bell were both at even par. Manchester’s Matt Liddon was fourth, at 1-over.
“Me and Channing are shooting the same, and Wilson and Brandon have stepped up. They’ve made most of the difference in our scores, team-wise. That’s the lowest we’ve shot in probably five years. It was a good tournament,” Riveros said.
Curtis and Riveros have long been championship contenders who powered St. Al to four consecutive MHSAA team championships from 2011-14. The emergence of Palmertree, an eighth-grader, and the junior Teller as reliable Nos. 3 and 4 in the lineup, however, should make St. Al a force to be reckoned with in its first year as a member of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.
“Our team is shaping up well. A lot better than I thought. I knew we were going to be pretty good, but I didn’t know we were going to be this deep,” Curtis said. “I’m proud of the guys. It’s been a while since we’ve had a 3 and 4 guy play good. Usually, we have two guys in the 70s and one in the 80s. Now we’re getting to where we have three guys in the 70s and one in the low 80s.”